Zacks Sell List Highlights: Dole Food, New Oriental Education & Tech Grp, Amsurg and Masimo

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 22, 2013 – Zacks.com releases details on a group of stocks that are currently members of the exclusive Zacks Rank #5 List – Stocks to Sell Now. These stocks are currently rated as a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell): Dole Food Company, Inc. (DOLE) and New Oriental Education & Tech Grp (EDU). Further, Zacks announced #4 Rankings (Sell) on two other widely held stocks: Amsurg Corp (AMSG) and Masimo Corporation (MASI).

To see the full Zacks #5 Rank List - Stocks to Sell Now visit: http://at.zacks.com/?id=92

Since inception in 1988, the S&P 500 has outperformed the Zacks Rank #5 List of Stocks to Sell Now by 80% annually (+2% vs. +10%). While the rest of Wall Street continued to tout stocks during the market declines of the last few years, Zacks told investors which stocks to sell or avoid.

Here is a synopsis of why DOLE and EDU have a Zacks Rank of 5 (Strong Sell) and should most likely be sold or avoided for the next one to three months. Note that a #5 Strong Sell rating is applied to 5% of all the stocks in the Zacks Rank universe:

Dole Food Company, Inc. (DOLE) announced fourth-quarter loss of 62 cents per share on March 14 which came behind the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 61 cents. The diluted earnings per share also fell by 3,000% on a year-over-year basis. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year slipped 1 cent per share to 98 cents in the last 30 days. Next year’s estimate also dipped 92 cents per share to 80 cents per share in that time span.

New Oriental Education & Tech Grp (EDU) posted a second -quarter loss of 10 cents per share on January 29, which came in 6 cents wider than the average forecast. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2013 fell to a profit of 74 cents per share from 85 cents over the past two month with 5 out of 5 covering analysts slashed forecasts. Next year’s forecasts slipped 8 cents to $1.08 per share in the same time span.

Here is a synopsis of why AMSG and MASI have a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) and should also most likely be sold or avoided for the next one to three months. Note that a #4 Sell rating is applied to 15% of all the stocks ranked by Zacks;


Amsurg Corp (AMSG) fourth-quarter profit of 49 cents per share, posted on February 25, and lagged analysts’ projections by nearly 3.9%. For 2013, the Zacks Consensus Estimate moved down 6 cents to $2.18 in the last 30 days as 5 out of the 8 covering analysts cut back on forecasts. The forecast for next year slid 15 cents to $2.45 per share in the same time span.

Masimo Corporation (MASI) reported a fourth-quarter profit of 26 cents per share on February 14, that fell 7.1% short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The full-year average forecast is currently pegged at $1.15 per share, compared with the last 60 days projection of $1.23 Next year’s forecast dropped 9 cents per share in the same period.